1. Technical Field
Embodiments of this disclosure relate to a process unit and an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, or a multifunction peripheral of at least one of the foregoing capabilities, incorporating the process unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, or a multifunction peripheral of at least one of the foregoing capabilities, an electrostatic latent image which is formed on a photoconductor as a latent image bearer becomes a visible image by a developer supplied from a developing device.
In recent years, there has been a demand for saving energy and improving durability from the viewpoint of environmental problems in such an image forming apparatus. Here, a countermeasure has been set up which saves the energy of a developing operation by preparing a toner with a low melting point as a developer used for a developing operation so as to decrease a fixing temperature and which reduces the wear of a surface of a photoconductor caused by the friction of the photoconductor against a toner by adding an external additive to the toner so as to improve the fluidity of the toner.